A new life for The Old Mill

By Dianne Stallings/For Vamanos

Posted:
01/11/2013 04:13:38 PM MST

The concept sounds perfect: Match up a professional actress like Delana Michaels with the most historical building in Ruidoso to create an intimate playhouse and memorable experience for locals and visitors to Ruidoso. The dollars generated would help ensure the preservation, maintenance and protection of the community's birthplace.

With a successful play and several events behind them, Michaels and supporters of The Old Mill are looking forward to more frequent use of the structure. To that end, a performance by stand-up comedian Jay McKittrick is set for 6 p.m. Jan. 19 at the mill on Sudderth Drive. A play, "Women and War," directed by Marne Modine will run from March 15-16, to defray the entry fees for members of the Lincoln County Community Theater and allow them to participate in the state community theater competition in Los Alamos, March 21-24.

But Michaels, who inherited the building from her parents, hopes the use of the historic Old Mill will go far beyond staging plays and other performances. She dreams of the mill and waterwheel as a unique backdrop for weddings, receptions, community functions, educational and historical meetings, and community benefits, with its exposed adobe brick walls, high ceilings, superb acoustics and refurbished old oak floors.

Michaels emphasizes that donations from seasonal visitors and others help, but only with a commitment from local residents can she hope to keep up with the expense of protecting the 145-year-old building and waterwheel.

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Artist Bart Fischer is doing his part with an exhibit and 30 percent-off sale of his acrylic painting that depict moments, places and nature from across the Southwest, as well as in Lincoln County, including the Inn of the Mountain Gods, Ruidoso Downs Race Track and The Old Mill. A well-known landscape and architectural artist living in Alto, he graduated from Texas Tech in architecture, opened his own office in El Paso, Texas, and produced numerous architectural award-winning projects.

Michaels also exclusively sells from the mill copies of the film she directed entitled, "Story Tellers of Lincoln County: The Old West Wasn't Quite What You Think."

"Just anything to get the locals in there," she said. Every penny generated by events using the mill goes back into the building, she said about the structure rescued decades ago from complete decay by her parents, Carmon and Leona Mae Phillips. "We redid the big oak floors and put in double-pane windows to help with the heating."

"This building is their past," she said of Ruidoso residents. "It is our historic building. It is our birthplace."

Pointing out that the main donations received came from out of town and out of state, she issued a personal plea to locals, "Please come in and see what we're trying to do and help us. We really need your support. We're going month to month now. I need you to help me."

Two big projects for which separate funds will be established are a parking lot and a public restroom, Michaels said. She now pays for portable toilets every time an event is scheduled at the mill, but jokes that if a group took on the restroom as a project, the commemorative plaque over the entrance when completed could be one of a kind for an organization's records.

"People should not be embarrassed no matter what their donation," she said. "Every cent helps. It could replace the damaged screen on the front door or buy a bucket of paint. Or come out and help us paint and maintain the property, plant flowers in the spring, paint the shutters. This building will be here forever, if we can get this done. It's something worth saving."

The largest single donation to date came from her former hometown boyfriend and his wife, Tommy and Judy McNeal from Ruidoso. "They like to tithe in the community where they can see that their money is going toward something worth saving," she said.

Last year was a turning point in Michaels' efforts to save for a second time the historical mill and waterwheel that were rescued from neglect by her parents.

"I wrote a letter to the editor saying I just no longer could support this historic building, that I needed help from people to ensure it was protected," she said during an interview earlier this week.

Her letter was noticed. Several locals recognized the landmark was in peril and decided to try to help, including the staff at the Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce. But the big boost occurred when she attended a meeting of the Lincoln County Historical Society and the scheduled speaker didn't show up.

"So I got up and spontaneously told them about my predicament," Michaels said. "By the end of the meeting, the group wanted to help." She credited Marty Davenport, who has a degree in historical preservation, with the savvy and commitment to complete the necessary research and to gather photographs of the mill over its then 144-year history to submit with an application for inclusion on the State Registry of Historical Places. Michaels, historical society members and other supporters were ecstatic in October to learn the mill earned a number on that list.

But the effort didn't stop there. Paperwork to place the mill on the national historic registry was mailed Monday. State cultural properties officials are optimistic about the mill's chances and Michaels said they hope for a verdict in the next few months.

To celebrate the state listing and to bring local residents as well as visitors into the Old Mill to see first-hand the original walls, the old photographs and the grinding stone that produced flour and other dried meals during its productive community life, a Centennial Celebration was staged there on Aug. 4.

"It was a full house, very well attended," she said. State Sen. Don L. Tripp, (R-Socorro), one of our main connections in the Legislature and a family friend, came down," she said. The first play by New Mexico playwright, poet and lyricist Robert Patrick was staged at the mill in September. "You're Family," an educational benefit, earned enough to pay for a student scholarship at Eastern New Mexico University.

After the annual Festival of Lights parade in early December, the community was invited to the mill for "Santa, Cider and Song," which featured the university choir's winter concert.

"The acoustics are dynamite in the mill," Michaels said. "The stage was built at the eastern end of the building by Bill Maxson, his crew and Glenn Barrow. It's been wonderful because the acoustics are so great."

A back area accommodates props and upstairs will be the permanent dressing rooms. The mill adapts easily to become an intimate theater with seating for about 100.

Balancing her preservation efforts for the mill, Michaels still pursues an active career in films, completing "50 to 1" in August, based on the true story of Kentucky Derby winner "Mind That Bird," from New Mexico.

"I have a great part as the bartender who turns the drunken trainer around and makes him go for the horse that everyone is about to give up on," she said. She also was lined up for a role in a series pilot for NBC, auditioned for the voice of Spaceport America and is meeting with a director about New Mexico film writer and director Rod McCall's "Desdemona Goes Shopping for the Fountain of Youth," starring Cybill Shepherd.

"So good things are happening and I'm keeping busy," she said.

Advance tickets sell for $17 for the Jan. 19 performance by McKittrick, who also is a columnist. They are available at the chamber of commerce on Sudderth Drive or at the door for $21. His shows are free of offensive language, but some material may not be suitable for children. The doors at The Old Mill, 641 Sudderth Drive, will open at 5:30 p.m. the day of the performance.